one big speckled egg

i'd like to run and jump on your solitude

2012-02-03T23:47:00.001-08:00

tweet tweet tweet

2011-11-27T12:08:00.000-08:00

@emcegg

thinking about you

2011-08-14T11:07:00.003-07:00

Lindisfarne

2011-08-13T10:43:00.000-07:00

Nettle Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

2011-05-08T16:09:00.001-07:00

Aaaaaaaamaaaaaaaazing....

Nettle Garlic Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes 12 biscuits

• 2 cups organic unbleached flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fine Himalayan pink salt
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 4 cloves fresh garlic, crushed
• 5 tablespoons organic salted butter
• 1 cup organic buttermilk (1.5 percent)
• 3/4 cup finely chopped fresh nettle leaves

• Thick gloves for harvesting and chopping the nettles

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Combine flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a large mixing bowl and stir thoroughly. Using two butter knives or a pastry cutter, add the butter until the mixture resembles a crumbly meal.

2. In a separate bowl, combine buttermilk with finely chopped garlic and nettle leaf. Add this liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and gently fold together to form a soft dough.

3. Turn the dough onto a floured cutting board, knead gently until it just comes together adding a little more flour if needed, and roll the dough out until it’s about 1⁄2-inch in thickness. Using the rim of a small glass, cut the dough into 3-4 inch rounds and place on an ungreased baking sheet.

4. Bake the biscuits for 18 minutes or until light golden brown.

5. Remove from the baking sheet to avoid over-crisping your biscuit bottoms and serve warm fresh from the oven with butter. Enjoy!

More about nettles on my work, work, work blog: http://mountainroseblog.com/nettle-garlic-buttermilk-biscuits/

a lil obsessed...

2011-04-18T18:49:00.000-07:00

FAWM

2011-02-13T14:43:00.000-08:00

FAWM = February Album Writing Month

so, i'm not really a musician...but, i am writing 14 songs in 28 days.

eeeek!

maybe you'd like to take a listen?

soundsuits

2011-01-17T22:19:00.001-08:00

moonshower

2010-11-23T01:18:00.000-08:00

to a child running wild through florida sunshine, snowflakes were divine. pure fantasy. fluttering from the sky like the tooth fairy. something cut from folded paper and made sparkly with glitter during circle time. now, bones grown and wrinkled, i run into the flooding luminescence of streetlights, ignoring bare skin and the screech of rubber tires to turn white in the awe of swirling crystal and moon glow.

smiling at the absolute wonder of simple things

sweets

2010-11-13T14:41:00.000-08:00

just wait and you'll see

2010-10-08T18:23:00.001-07:00

whiteaker block party

2010-08-17T21:39:00.000-07:00

ships

2010-08-08T13:44:00.003-07:00

I've lost people.
waking to find them a memory.

will I watch them all go
or will I become lost in them?

my heart aches at the thought,
but I know it comes.

it is not important to pass everyday,
but to have a day with them.

to see them
and feel them
to give and take of them.

they may not come back
or stay
so always love the worst of them.

good is easy
good is given.

I will miss their perfect darkness
or they will miss mine.

to always meet them clear
and tender
is to honor their fragile beauty

in gratitude of this strange, sinking gift.

Do you know what I mean?

2010-08-07T19:04:00.000-07:00

play. repeat.

2010-04-11T21:29:00.011-07:00

caribou

swim

four tet

there is love in you

play. repeat.

hardcore pollination

2010-03-28T22:02:00.003-07:00

Artist Opens First Plant Porn Theater

Cover your Iris!

exhale

2010-03-27T13:10:00.006-07:00

Early morning. Late breakfast. First snatch of free time in three weeks and the sun is actually shining! I'm celebrating with Darjeeling and Rose bud tea, plus a spot of honey from my friend's hive.

Elvira surprised me with a sweet and much needed "cheer up!" gift of eight eggs from her fancy new chickens. I made an omelette with English white cheddar, Lacinato Kale, and plenty of cracked black pepper, atop sprouted grain toast with Marionberry maple syrup glazed soysage.

Perfect medicine for my Saturday morning blues and ample fuel for a spring walk to the nearby hospital, where my dear friend awaits kisses and back rubs.

The Gypsy

2010-03-09T14:47:00.009-08:00

Who my father was, what country I'm from,
In vain the people ask me
The first never existed and my home...
The earth that gives me fruits and flowers.

Wherever destiny leads me,
I find a smile, I find a love.
Why should I worry about thoughts of the past
When the hours of the present are glad to my heart?

It's true that tomorrow could cast a turbid veil over
The serene breezes waiting for me.
But if today, my skies are all blue,
Why should I worry about things that may not happen?

I am a plant, never frozen or bare,
That defies even the harshest winter.
If a leaf falls here, another will grow in it's place.
In every season I am full of flowers!

S.M. Maggioni

on a tuesday

2010-02-23T23:30:00.002-08:00

Homemade shallot bechamel, vermouth cocktails, and salted caramels.
The Magnetic Fields (180 g), ladies' figure skating, and kisses in the kitchen.
All I need now is a puppy.......or a Maine Coon.

Okay, both?

Steven's Bombay Two
Pernod Rinse
Germain-Robin Brandy
Dolin French Dry Vermouth
Antica Formula Italian Sweet Vermouth
Cointreau

shaken and strained
with an Orange Twist

mmm...

phoenixing

2010-02-08T22:20:00.010-08:00

Perched on the windowsill

Breasts pinched and cradled by bent elbows

Skull blossom, palm sepals

I am home from work

and boundless

Slow stretching clouds glide like heavy ships

Over a shadowed city that will soon turn green and furry

A song plays

Its sweet melody reminds me that I should write a letter

But the sun is sleepy and me too

Pink-cheeked

I nestle into the open frame of infinite blustery azure

Yellow hair flits like flames and golden feathers

Teases baby fluff on spotted skin

Sinking sunlight penetrates my mind and splits

Big blue fills me

Vibrating and buoyant

Walls and glass melt beneath

My body suspended in dewy sky

Moist and glowy

Ships break apart

Gently fading in the slow burning hour

Fine gossamer rafts somehow hold my weight

Crystals cling to softness

Push through pauses

Expand space

Hexagons and emptiness

Inside me

The little potted saxifrage

Wind battered and bowed

Kisses my arm

Tiny red lips

Wide-eyed and teetering

Out of the blue

I am in my apartment

Reeling my hooked spine in from the ledge

Flowers in hand

Dream drunk

and humming

I don't need guitar lessons

2010-02-03T22:57:00.004-08:00

just twigs.

god's little cows

2009-11-04T17:27:00.012-08:00

My apartment is infested...

with ladybugs.

Huddled in the corner of my window, perched on glass, their little bodies create red constellations against the sunset's low burning glow.

Folklore throughout time and place says that Ladybugs are lucky charms. They ride to earth on bolts of lightning and fly away with your worries. A visit from them forecasts bountiful crops, pockets full of gold, and true love.

Lucky me!

fruits (bark, leaves, roots) of my labor

2009-10-11T11:20:00.018-07:00

Columbines School of Botanical Studies
First Year Apprenticeship Field Program
2009 harvest

medicinals
tinctures, syrup, salve, vinegar, topical astringent, pretty bundles,
dream bundles, smudges, rootlet chews, infused oils, pastilles

Berberis nervosa
Ceanothus velutinus
Hypericum perforatum
Hypericum formosum
Heracleum lanatum
Ligusticum grayi
Arctostaphylos nevadensis
Chimaphila umbellata
Pedicularis groenlandica
Pedicularis racemosa
Valeriana sitchensis
Salix sp.
Achillea millefolium
Anaphalis margaritacea
Artemisia douglasiana
Arnica mollis

Xerophyllum tenax and the snow-capped Sisters

edibles/spices/wild deliciousness

Dodecatheon jeffreyi
Xerophyllum tenax
Achlys triphylla
Oxalis oregana
Mimulus spp.
Montia spp.
Osmorhiza chilensis
Viola spp.
Amelanchier alnifolia
Cornus canadensis
Ribes spp.
Rubus spectabilis
Rubus parviflorus
Vaccinium spp.
Asarum caudatum
Angelica genuflexa
Ligusticum grayi
Berberis nervosa
Acer macrophyllum
many others...
and my favorite - Fragaria vesca!

Warm days are fading fast. The world around me is becoming a deciduous reef of color. I've got spring and summer bottled up for the slow rolling winter months that will rock us gently in stony bare limbs. Will wrap us up tight in pearly white snow.

sugarplums

2009-09-24T20:55:00.004-07:00

Woodslore and Roadkill Serenades

2009-09-23T18:19:00.004-07:00

Tell me a story.
Sing me a song.

Boystown

2009-09-01T23:48:00.004-07:00

Cloudbusting

2009-07-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

meadow locating

2009-06-08T21:32:00.007-07:00

she ran against the snaking flow. its deafening bubble begged her to follow. heavy, silver sheets slipped away like silk on bone.

the rolling growl of the creek's swagger lured her to a wet opening.

Flame-bellied newts stretched under arum blooms, aglow with heat. Frog choruses were not shy. their bouncing crescendos echoed and set far away fires. the mosquitoes penetrated her hot pink skin. hidden. gorging.

she found shade under pretty words.

berry blood squished between pearly teeth. sun sweet and furry. with stained fingers, she counted the flowers at her feet. violets. buttercups. snapdragons. fluttering galaxies that twinkled in a green universe.

she swallowed the shooting stars.

in bloom

2009-04-05T23:27:00.011-07:00

The smoky winter sky snuggled me like a cozy blanket for months. Rain patter lulled me to sleep and woke me gently at sunrise. Cold breezes bribed me with scarves and snow boots and bare trees against a brilliant periwinkle glow. Its sleepy beauty tried to coax my loyalty from the sultry summer heat I had known so well. Winter loved me with the smooth touch of a determined lover.

I have been walking for hours today in the burgeoning spring warmth. Sailing the sidewalks on a smile. My freckled skin finally painted by sunlight. I had almost forgotten the piercing awe it inspired in me one year ago. Has it been a whole year already?

I stop often to rest my blistered feet and look up into the trees. Starlings sit still as statues, plump on newly flowered branches...pink...white...yellow. Sun-drenched feathers make them twinkle like clumps of dewy berries. So ripe, I wish I could pluck them one-by-one. The lacy petals twirl to the ground around my feet in dazzling piles, but some cling to my hair like February snowflakes.

I start a wildcrafting apprenticeship next weekend. I first heard about the class last June and have not stopped thinking about it since. I keep catching myself in moments of silly excitement over it, like a child eyeing her giant foil wrapped Easter bunny.

Spring is here and my dormant brain is ready to flower...

Hunting Season

2009-03-08T23:36:00.008-07:00

Moss is luminous. Trees and rocks are cloaked in babyfine green. The forest is soggy and dark, but the whole world glows. Like sunlight through a million fringed emeralds.

I went with friends to hunt toothed hedgehogs and winter chanterelles. The anticipation of wild mushroom bruschetta seduced me as I swam through the thick tangle of ferns, lichen, river rock, and fallen old growths.

Licorice fern crunched sweet between my teeth as I combed the dense underbrush. Sedums umbrellaed a lush microforest of mosses, Candy Flower, and dainty Mist Maidens, not yet blooming. Moist and fleshy Cat's Tongue licked from every downed trunk, while the pearled luster of snail shells shimmered in the downy leaf litter.

The crystal snow melt of Brice Creek roared beside me, drowning bird songs and footsteps. American Dippers hopped and bobbed on the sodden bank. Diving below the rushing water to eat dragonfly nymphs from the rocky bottom, the tiny grey birds can see underwater and still their bodies against the unrelenting icy flow.

Magic is all around and I am learning to see.

Wish List

2009-02-25T20:40:00.007-08:00

"Each level takes place in a different flower's dream as it sits on the windowsill of a dull city apartment. As the player progresses through the game, the apartment and city gradually become more vibrant and colourful. The player guides a petal through brightly coloured, abstract fields by tilting the motion-sensitive controller, pressing any button on the controller gives a speed boost. The aim is to guide the petal into other flowers in the field, triggering an explosion of colour that spreads through the game world."

pick a

FLOWER

In response

2009-02-07T10:58:00.003-08:00

Dearest Taffeta,
This is why I DO smoke weed...

Fröhliches Weihnachten

2008-12-28T11:01:00.020-08:00

Memories from a German-Oregonian Christmas

I am 3,000 miles away from the only home I have ever known. Sunshine and thunderstorms. Spiky-legged cockroaches. Spanish moss. My partner of 7 years is gone. He ran back to a stale comfort of well-worn days and familiar ghosts. I am soft and unknown here, but somehow love is pouring into my life and I cannot stop smiling.

Afloat on champagne and hash, I spent the snow kissed sunset crafting a raw Christmas Eve feast for a house full of beer blushed faces. When night fell, we marveled at the exquisite bounty before us, piled high in hand painted Polish stoneware my friend has been collecting for years.

Later with bellies brimming, we drank elderberry cocktails and sang in starlight.

Succulents, saxifrages, and dwarf conifers hibernate in greenhouses, awaiting the charmed warmth of spring that will tease out their lusty flowers. A bonsai tree, strung with lights, was given space to nurse a mountain of socks so lovingly wrapped by my mother. Santa paper. Snowmen. Plastic bows.

The wild turkeys, fat and free, love compost in the morning. I followed their tracks through the powdered snow.

soup

2008-12-28T09:13:00.012-08:00

postcards

2008-12-19T09:27:00.010-08:00

Most of these were shot from the 10th floor of my boyfriend's apartment building (which is one of the only high-rises in the city) so you can see north Eugene, Skinner Butte, and the Coburg Hills at sunrise after the very first snow of winter.

I am in love.

sexsea

2008-11-19T22:33:00.003-08:00

Anatomy of a coral polyp

Cephalopops

2008-11-17T22:27:00.007-08:00

pop!

celebrity crushes

2008-11-04T21:27:00.003-08:00

Just...

sayin'.

flattery will get you everywhere

2008-10-18T19:10:00.005-07:00

The sunlit sky has turned smoky and cool nights are transforming trees into rainbowed confetti bombs. Black pavement and cars and bushes are blanketed with crinkly stars. Icy breezes pluck the treetops and color swirls to the ground with the grace of butterflies. Summer has smoldered into an autumnal kaleidoscope.

I arrived at work bundled in my green corduroy jacket, bark brown scarf, and a vanilla cream hat perfectly melted into my sandy blond curls. A lovely coworker greeted me with a wide eyed smile and said in her purring German accent, "You look so beautiful today...just like one of my goats!"

Best compliment ever.

Lost in the Woods

2008-07-19T11:05:00.011-07:00

For three sticky summer days each year, the Oregon Country Fair transforms the forest into the state's fourth largest city. The people are transformed too...

Fairgoers wore elaborate costumes or nothing at all. Old gray women and very young girls painted flowers on their breasts and danced carefree in the sunshine. Men became purring tigers and bug eyed butterflies, robots and unicorns.

I walked the looping dirt trails for hours, dodging impromptu parades and spiked dragon tails. Two old men in kilts, with long black beards braided into octopus tentacles, offered magical herbs from a small carved box to anyone who mistakenly wandered under their tree shade. The purple suited ghost of Jimi Hendrix, guitar in hand, called me "foxy lady" both times our paths crossed, and an ice-cream gooed baby fell in love with my glowing pink tights. Without fear, the little smiling monster escaped his parents to come touch them...several times. I saw no one I knew, but met no strangers.

By midday the sun had boiled my brain to a fine custard. Desperate for relief, I removed my shoes and sat on the dusty ground. A treehugging logger spoke about his life in the forest and the struggle for sustainable harvesting. He learned to listen to trees. To sit with them quietly. To taste their bark. "People love life. People love people. People want progress for themselves and for others. For their world. But, people are not necessary for life to continue on this planet. The trees...the trees are. We are simply ornaments."

I looked up into the spiderwebbed branches shading my head. Cool breezes drifted past and gently touched dripping emerald leaves. They glittered like a rippling lake. Among them green apple buds dangled threateningly, growing heavy with sour juice. A nesting robin clasped a white flower in her beak. It appeared delicate as a snowflake against her rust red breast. I closed my stinging eyes and floated.

At 7pm crew members joined hands and made a sweep of all 280 wooded acres. I took a crowed bus back to Eugene. There were no seats left, so I stood during the 40 minute ride. My body was black with mud. My crusted nose and dirt filled sinuses longed for a hot shower and my aching muscles for a soft clean bed. The real festival begins at sundown. With the public gone for the night, fair vendors and artists camp on site in wooden structures that look like grounded treehouses. The music and other psychedelic goodies flow until morning. Next year I'll hide in a tree until the stars twinkle.

Gluten-free Veganliciousness

2008-06-26T22:31:00.003-07:00

I found these pictures from before our plunge into gluten freedom. Once upon a time, I made many of these tasty Tofurky sandwiches with Vegenaise, deli mustard, tomatoes, onions, pickles, cucumber slices, bell peppers, Vegan Gourmet cheddar, and crispy sprouts piled high on toasty sprouted grain bread. Yum!

Now I make them with Amy's Bistro veggie burgers and rice tortillas, instead of Tofurky slices and bread. So delicious!

I was intimidated by the idea of eating vegan and gluten-free at first, but it has been a fun exploration and not at all as difficult or restricting as anticipated. I never realized how much of my diet was wheat based - literally every meal - until I gave it up.

A fresh baguette from the local organic bakery is a rare treat now, saved for good olive oil and smoked sea salt.

Pineapple Glazed Tofu Spring Rolls

2008-06-22T10:32:00.003-07:00

The excellent farmers markets and health food stores in town have inspired me to cook like crazy. I've been a passionate food nerd since childhood, so exploring the gastronomical landscape of my new home es muy divertido!

This week at the market I grabbed more french breakfast radishes, red butter leaf lettuce, sweet rainbow mini-peppers, carrots, basil, and mint - which of course sparked an unstoppable craving for spring rolls!

I marinated the tofu in wheat-free tamari, pineapple juice, dark agave, grated ginger, fresh garlic, and raw apple cider vinegar, then pan fried it in fragrant virgin coconut oil (oh my god, amazing!).

I need to work on my rolling technique. I've made these a hundred times before and never can get them nice and tight. Whatevs. They're super delicious and that's what really matters, right?

Oh, and a chili peanut sauce for dipping. Yum!

passionflowers

2008-06-14T01:24:00.001-07:00

are unbelievable...

Spring Panang

2008-06-07T15:02:00.005-07:00

For years I tried to create a Thai style curry to smile about. I hunted down every powder or paste collecting dust on the store shelves with hope that this could finally be the ONE. Sadly, these lifeless and uninspired blends always managed to disappoint. I was prepared to improvise, but no matter how much fresh ginger I grated, garlic I pressed, or lime juice I squeezed, the finished dishes turned out bland and hot. I was cursed. Nothing could satisfy my desire for fresh kafir scented coconut cream, galangal earthiness, and perfect chili spice. Eventually, the heartbreak of failure forced me to abandon the pursuit and I left curry making to the pros.

That is, until I found this at the NW Veg Fest...

Check out the ingredients!

This amazingly delicious paste is made by a Thai couple in Portland. They also make green, yellow, red, and Massamun.

I was excited to try it out, so I made a trip to the Saturday Farmers' Market in Eugene (which is huge and happens to be the oldest in the country) to sample some of this spring's treasures.

I decided to use baby bok choy, sweet red peppers, yellow onion, tofu, kale and collard florets, pineapple chunks, bamboo shoots, zucchini, basil, mint, and French radishes.

If you ever find kale or collard green florets BUY EVERY BUNCH. You will fall in love.

This was so good, I almost cried. I can't wait to try the other pastes.

Some dreams do come true.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall...

2008-06-01T11:55:00.005-07:00

Little seeds of shame and fear and competition were planted in our baby girl brains with every image they fed us. Now we claim the tools of oppression as tools of harmless girly fun.

Our continued participation in and defense of the beauty industry worries me. Women should be free to play with identity, beauty, and modification of their own bodies in whatever way they choose. I don't see any need to defend or preserve a corporate hyper-femininity that only limits women's exploration of the feminine spectrum. Beyond the industry's societal mindfuck, there are concerns like slave labor, the tons and tons of unnecessary waste it produces every day, and animal ~~testing~~ torture. Indulging in a system of capitalist patriarchal oppression for "our own pleasure" or "girly fun" is not feminist reclaiming. It's not even freedom to choose it for ourselves if we simply adhere, but never imagine or pose new challenges.

We'd rather play the games we know - woman against woman, woman against self.

Chef's Choice

2008-05-12T17:09:00.003-07:00

The Pizza Research Institute is a dream. It is love in a box, inspiring desire and delight. It is fearless vegetarian pie deliciousness.

PRI is 100% vegetarian, makes fresh honey lemonade, and hand paints each pizza box. The L shaped dining room glows with low warm lighting and bouncing dub tunes. A semi-private elevator shaft booth complete with a funky chandelier hides in the back.

I haven't yet mustered the strength to order anything other than the Chef's Choice Vegan and this is why...

An herbed crust with red sauce, smoky tofu ricotta, fresh spinach, onions, black olives, broccoli, roasted eggplant, mushrooms, roasted herbed red potatoes, green pepper, curried cauliflower, sweet yellow corn, snow peas, peaches, and cranberry jam.

Whoa! So amazing.

I must force myself to order the P3 (pesto, pear, and potato) next time. I hear it is mighty tasty.

It's fun to have a baby niece!

2008-04-04T20:22:00.002-07:00

This is Dylan Riley the flowerhead...

Snailqueen...

Film Critic...

and cabaret star BUBBLES!

Jen melts my brain into magic...

2008-04-04T20:01:00.002-07:00

Oregonia

2008-03-30T06:37:00.004-07:00

My travel blog!

Feminist Bookstore

2008-02-18T15:37:00.003-08:00

Okay, I'll admit that I'm a bit partial to Carrie Brownstein, but this is great...

FEMINIST BOOKSTORE

Ancient "devil frog" may have eaten baby dinosaurs

2008-02-18T15:17:00.002-08:00

I want to make friends with a Beelzebufo!

Clinton and Obama...more of the same

2008-02-16T15:01:00.004-08:00

Examining Clinton & Obama’s Stances on the Subprime Mortgage Crisis, Universal Healthcare, Privatizing Social Security and Nuclear Energy

Watch the video HERE.

Wow. The most "progressive" (barf) candidates the Democrats can muster are in the pockets of big Nuke.

I miss Edwards and Kucinich.

Sweet!

2007-12-21T16:51:00.000-08:00

America's Best Vegetarian-Friendly Small Cities

#2 Eugene, Oregon

Eugene residents are soy happy, because they get to live in a thriving, fun city while enjoying numerous vegetarian-friendly restaurants, health-food stores, and farmers' markets.

Eugene is America's vegan-pizza capital, with Cozmic Pizza, Pizza Research Institute, and Sam Bond's Garage leading the way. If you're craving Chinese, get out your chopsticks and dive into the food at the all-vegan Lotus Garden, which features Hunan "beef" as well as vegan spring rolls, pot stickers, and wonton soup. Holy Cow Café, located in the University of Oregon's Erb Memorial Union student center, is always a good bet. Laughing Planet Café was named "Best Veggie-Friendly" hot spot by Eugene Weekly for its healthy-and-tasty burritos, soups, and salads.

Going out to get groceries? Then you're in luck, because Eugene's natural-food stores are as big, bright, modern, and plentiful as the chain supermarkets. The Saturday Market, along with several produce stands in the area, will inspire you to eat only the freshest, tastiest produce. One of Eugene's largest industries is natural-foods manufacturing. Rising Moon, which makes pasta products, Emerald Valley Kitchen, and Golden Temple Granola are all based in Eugene.

For a sweet addition to any visit to Eugene, help yourself to the variety of vegan desserts that abound all around town. Wake up to the vegan pastries at Morning Glory Bakery, or get yourself a slice of the Sweet Life's high-end vegan cakes and pies.

Damn...

Wendy Erin Bush

2007-12-06T20:24:00.000-08:00

The memory of your big beautiful laugh makes me ache with happiness.

I miss your pure unfaltering enthusiasm (a unique power I've never known in another humyn being) and those warm smiley hugs that made the world melt into sweetness.

Love you always.

12/6/2007

Pretty Colors

2007-11-15T18:34:00.000-08:00

My ears are tingling with joy and anticipation...

9/11/07 Webcast - Videotape

Wait for the Bling!

2007-11-13T19:30:00.000-08:00

U.S. Sets Record in Sexual Disease Cases

Gee, I wonder how that happened?

"Pussy for Sale!"

Oh, how sweet is that?

Word.

just the way it is

2007-10-31T17:09:00.000-07:00

I have the happy privilege of leaving work at noon every Tuesday to attend Spanish class. There are about 12 students total, so when I arrive, three or four early birds settle in for the next two hours of verb conjugations and vocab exercises. This sometimes leads to light homework discussion or polite chitchat. Today however proved to be a bit more…interesting.

The conversation was in progress as I took my seat. A woman in her early thirties named Nicky was complaining about a one-credit course the school requires for graduation. Apparently there are many of these eat-your-money courses to choose from and they cover a single topic to be debated in class. Since I’m a transient student at the school, I was out of the loop and continued to unpack my collection (a sign of complete nerditude!) of useful dictionaries. That is, until I heard the topic of the class…

War Innovations.

Yeah.

It gets kind of ugly from there.

Nicky said it was difficult to have a real debate because the “kids” didn’t know much about what’s going on in Iraq. Some of them, who identify as “pro-war”, tried to argue that the US went to Iraq to find Osama bin Laden. Blah, blah, blah. One classmate even thought Osama was a country…YIKES. She went on about the assignment, mentioning the controversy over giving security clearance to contractors and finally added the disclaimer, “but you know, I’m not against the war.”

I looked up from 501 Spanish Verbs.

I snapped.

“Controversy? Maybe the US government shouldn’t invade another country, murder and rape the people who live there, bomb their homes and cities, or lock people in cages and torture them - and maybe the greedy multinationals with their grossly bulging pockets and drooling fangs shouldn’t be allowed to suck the natural resources of that country so coveted, that Iraqi blood must be spilled in the process.”

As I came up for air, she replied with complete nonchalance…

“Well, you know, it’s been happening forever. That’s just the way it is.”

My heart pounded with anger under my breast. I felt myself reeling, possessed as the words tumbled from my mouth,

“No. You are wrong. Not all societies are imperialists. People do have the ability to make other choices. You can try to justify violent aggression by saying ‘well, that’s just the way it is’ but it still doesn’t make it right and it doesn’t mean ‘the way it is’ is the way it should be.”

Her face flushed red as she turned to the front of the quiet classroom. The discussion faded into mumbling and class began.

It's amazing how talking to someone can make you feel alone and crazy. I will never understand the immediate, uncritical, and reactionary willingness to justify murder for profit and the resulting subjugation of peoples and lands. Never.

My mind became trapped in that moment.

Later, Nicky complimented my shoes like we were longtime girlfriends. As the fog cleared from my brain, our eyes met. She smiled. I felt the need to vomit and repeated the words... el síntoma.

Berry Brazilicious

2007-10-28T17:24:00.000-07:00

I have fallen prey to Açaí madness. This sorbet is dense berry-cocoa velvet on my tongue.

A deep purple purée is sweetened with blue agave nectar and green cane juice. The organic berries are rich in omegas, antioxidants, and fiber. They are also amazingly delicious!

Sambazon's Sustainable Açaí Project sounds pretty awesome too - although I only read about it on the company's website…so, you know.

Allow the sorbet to soften 5-10 minutes before eating...if you can wait!

Tampanian Homesick Alien

2007-10-25T16:49:00.000-07:00

Fighter jets have been pounding disconcerting vibrations into my apartment all day as they tear through the sky in pairs. Seriously, what the fuck is going on?

Luckily, I have David Attenborough's wildlife documentaries to keep me happily distracted. For anyone who is unfamiliar with his work - get familiar! So far, I have gobbled down The Life of Birds, Life in the Undergrowth, and The Life of Mammals. David reveals the intimate complexities of social interactions, motivations, and specializations of animal life around the planet, without coming off cutesy, dramatic, or dry. I have found them all completely enthralling and I feel like I'm gaining a deeper understanding of life and my significance/insignificance. The world is amazing. We all have different ways of doing the same things.

It's difficult to live in a society completely steeped in human dominance. Trapped in a little box next to another little box, I often feel so isolated from my home.

Flower gathering rock rabbits...

Leopard slug love...

So Succulent

2007-09-03T09:24:00.000-07:00

Jen invited me to the USF Botanical Gardens yesterday for the Cacti and Succulents show. I am now making friends with a very spiky Alluaudia.

Jen purchased a hanging Hoya plant called Hindu Rope. The grower said that it blossoms in knotted bunches and drips with gooey sweet nectar. She's going to make a clipping for me!

Beautiful!

Texas Executes 400th Person in 2007

2007-08-18T08:06:00.000-07:00

Including at least one non-violent offender. Of course, he's black and the not-his-victim was white.

The Case of Kenneth Foster: Texas Prepares to Execute Man for Driving a Car Near Scene of Murder

The number of people killed in the Texas death chamber since the return of the death penalty in 1982 will surpass 400 by the end of the month.

www.freekenneth.com

www.texasmoratorium.org

www.amnesty.org/campaign

___________________________________________

UPDATE! Texas Spares Life of Kenneth Foster

From Democracy Now! ...

The governor of Texas commuted the death sentence of Kenneth Foster yesterday six hours before Foster's scheduled execution. Governor Rick Perry made the decision after the state's parole board voted six to one in favor of sparing Foster's life. This marked only the third time Perry has commuted a death sentence. Since he took office in 2000 Perry has overseen 162 executions. Anti-death penalty activists hailed the decision as a major victory. Dana Cloud of the Save Kenneth Foster campaign said QUOTE “This case demonstrated to the world just how arbitrary and capricious capital punishment is." Foster had been sentenced to death for a crime the state of Texas admits he did not commit or plan. In a recent interview with CourtTV, Kenneth Foster talked about how he wants to keep helping raise his 11 year-old daughter.

Kenneth Foster:

"So I'm trying to breed another little activist here. I'm trying to breed us another Barbara Lee or Barbara Jordan or Maxine Waters or Sheila Jackson Lee… We need to actually raise our children more to get involved with the system. A lot of people like to point fingers — "This is what's wrong with this." We need to get our family involved with the system, raise our kids to go to school and be politicians and legislators and Senate members and House reps. We have to do that, and that's something that I been putting on her head, and I think I got her."

Obama & Clinton: Agents of the Growing Global Corporate Dictatorship

2007-08-09T19:51:00.000-07:00

Check it out...

Which Candidate Shares Your Views?

Kucinich and Gravel in '08. That's right...white dudes.

Strawberry Jam out 9/07!

2007-08-04T13:53:00.000-07:00

For Reverend Green/The Purple Bottle

Peacebone

Exciting!

L O V E

2007-08-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

Kestrel.

David Lynch on Coffee, Transcendental Meditation, and Product Placement

2007-07-22T06:26:00.000-07:00

High school scholars confront Bush...

2007-07-08T06:28:00.000-07:00

"Dick Will Make You Slap Somebody" - Alexyss Tylor

2007-07-07T09:55:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have nothing to say about Alexyss Tylor's show VAGINA POWER other than "um, whoa", but you really should watch these clips allllll the way through. If you do not take this advice, you will surely miss some very interesting...nuggets.

VAGINA POWER

"Dick Will Make You Slap Somebody"

VAGINA POWER

"I am the Pussy Pilot."

Alexyss and her mom talk pussy...

VAGINA POWER

"Penis Power - The penis will reduce you to a cum freak."

My Dad Works at the Fertilizer Plant

2007-06-10T20:19:00.000-07:00

Take the tour...

For some reason, the Center for Science in the Public Interest didn't include information about the aquaculture industry's impact on ocean health in this interactive tour of the food supply. After all, Americans alone eat over 17 billion marine creatures every year - outweighing the global production of beef. I've been reading about the practices of intensive fish farming and open ocean fishing recently and I am seriously horrified (though not completely shocked) by what I've discovered. Really, all of this is very depressing.

Food, Ethics and the Environment Conference at Princeton: Concerns for Oceans, Climate and Animal Welfare from the University Channel

More...
Fish farming, or “aquaculture,” has become a billion-dollar industry, and more than 30 percent of all the sea animals consumed each year are now raised on these “farms.” The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization reports that the aquaculture industry is growing three times faster than land-based animal agriculture, and fish farms will surely become even more prevalent as our natural fisheries become exhausted.

Aquafarms can be based on land or in the ocean. Land-based farms raise thousands of fish in ponds, pools, or concrete tanks. Ocean-based aquafarms are situated close to shorelines, and fish in these farms are packed into net or mesh cages. All fish farms are rife with pollution, disease, and suffering, regardless of their location.

Aquafarms squander resources—it can take 5 pounds of wild-caught fish to produce just 1 pound of farmed fish—and pollute the environment with tons of fish feces, antibiotic-laden fish feed, and diseased fish carcasses. The fish-farming industry’s demand for fishmeal and oil provides incentives for fleets to take millions of tons of small fish that otherwise might provide food for cod or haddock, and much needed protein for people in developing countries.

Fish on aquafarms spend their entire lives in cramped, filthy enclosures, and many suffer from parasitic infections, diseases, and debilitating injuries. Conditions on some farms are so horrendous that 40 percent of the fish may die before farmers can kill and package them for food.

Yet commercial fishers kill hundreds of billions of animals every year—far more than any other industry—and they’ve decimated our ocean ecosystems. In fact, 90 percent of large fish populations have been exterminated in the past 50 years and a recent report published in the academic journal Science, estimates that by the year 2048 our oceans will have been completely over-fished.

Today’s commercial fishers use massive ships the size of football fields and advanced electronic equipment and satellite communications to track fish. These enormous vessels can stay out at sea for as long as six months, storing thousands of tons of fish onboard in massive freezer compartments.

Commercial fishing boats leave their ports in pursuit of specific species of fish, but their hooks and nets bring up thousands of pounds of other marine animals as well. Sharks, sea turtles, birds, seals, whales, and other nontarget fish who get tangled in nets and hooked by long-lines are termed “bycatch” and are thrown overboard. They fall victim to swarming birds or slowly bleed to death in the water. Scientists recently found that nearly 1,000 marine mammals—dolphins, whales, and porpoises—die each day after they are caught in fishing nets. By some estimates, shrimp trawlers discard as much as 85 percent of their catch, making shrimp arguably the most environmentally destructive fish flesh a person can consume. Shrimp fishing amounts to only 2% of the global wild seafood catch, but is responsible for 30% of all by catch in the world's fisheries.

Commercial fishing is wiping out biodiversity, as miles of nets sweep up all the fish in their path—and take coral habitats with them. Commercial fishers have devastated the ocean’s ecosystem to the extent that large fish populations are only 10 percent of what they were in the 1950s. Wild Atlantic salmon are so few that 300 farmed fish are sold for every 1 caught swimming freely. In March of 2005 The New York Times revealed that 6 out of 8 stores were selling farmed salmon labeled (as the more expensive) wild salmon. Salmon is most commonly farmed by confining 50,000 animals to a single cage or net. The wild salmon population is, unfortunately, largely unsustainable due to the demand for wild caught fishmeal feed, oil, and the threat of disease and parasites from escaped farm fish. Seafood Watch suggests buying wild-caught salmon, but unless you have a trustworthy supplier, you are probably purchasing farm-raised meat.

The Ethics of What We Eat: Why Our Food Choices Matter (Singer and Mason)
http://www.nofishing.net/CommercialFishing.asp

Start rewriting your sermons...

2007-05-04T15:54:00.000-07:00

A most perfect picture.

House passes expanded hate crime bill

RAWvolution

2007-04-21T07:16:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Laurie's whole food cleansing fast, I finally decided to unpack my food processor and explore RAWvolution. The book was a gift from Tyler's sister and I have read it 100 times, but being a terrific procrastinator, I had not yet tried a single recipe. So, last weekend I filled my grocery cart with the RAW essentials: walnuts, cashews, macadamia nuts, sunflower seeds, almonds, nama shoyu, agave, lemons, coconuts, veggies, fruit, raisins, garlic, raw tahini, and herbs.

The first recipe I made was the Harvest Corn Chowder, a creamy puree of fresh corn cut from the cob, walnuts, pine nuts, garlic, nama shoyu, coconut water, and lemon juice. I also added a touch of chili pepper for heat. Then I made tacos on collard green leaf tortillas with sunflower seed cheese, spicy ground walnut meat, and guacamole. These were BEYOND delicious. I also whipped up Pasta Marinara with Zucchini noodles, macadamia cream Eggless Egg Salad, and No Bean Hummus made with pureed zucchini instead of chickpeas. Everything was incredible!

I’m excited to make a few desserts this weekend….between paper writing (my very last undergrad paper ever!) and sleeping.

Frigatebirds

2007-04-20T10:38:00.000-07:00

Dinosaurs in Eden

2007-04-15T06:46:00.000-07:00

$27 Million Anti-Evolution Museum to Open Soon

By Andy Mead

Animatronic dinosaurs and people co-exist in the Creation Museum's displays, just as dinosaurs and people did in the Garden of Eden, according to the group behind the museum.

Tyrannosaurus rex was a strict vegetarian, and lived with Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

There were dinosaurs of every kind aboard Noah's ark. Some dinosaurs managed to hang around until just a few hundred years ago. The legend of St. George slaying the dragon? That probably was a dinosaur.

Exhibits showing all this and more will be at the Creation Museum, a $27 million religious showcase nearing completion in Northern Kentucky.

The museum, in Boone County near the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, is being built by a non-profit group called Answers in Genesis. It is scheduled to open on Memorial Day. Museum and Northern Kentucky tourism officials are expecting it to be a boon to the region, bringing in at least 250,000 visitors in its first year.

It already is getting media attention. Newspapers and television stations from Europe, Asia and Australia have visited, and CNN was there Friday.

But mainstream scientists, who have dubbed it The Fred and Wilma Flintstone Museum, say the museum's message is just plain wrong.

The museum is based on a literal interpretation of the Bible: The world was created in six, 24-hour days, some time between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. Humans appeared on Day 6, and they didn't evolve from anything.

Ken Ham, an Australian who is Answers in Genesis' $120,000-a-year founder and president, says the museum opening will be a significant event in Christendom.

"No one else has ever built a place where you can experience biblical history and merge it with the science," he said.

47 Percent Agree

But Eugenie Scott, a former University of Kentucky anthropologist who is director of the California-based National Center for Science Education, said the information provided in the museum "is not even close to standard science."

Scott visited the museum recently as part of a British Broadcasting Corp. radio program. Although she didn't get a tour, she saw enough to know that the museum will be professionally done. And, she says, that's worrisome.

"There are going to be students coming into the classroom and saying, 'I just went to this fancy museum and everything you're telling me is rubbish,' " Scott said.

Daniel Phelps of Lexington, president of the Kentucky Paleontological Society, says the museum will embarrass the state because of the "pseudoscientific-nutty things" it espouses, and because it portrays evolution as the path to ruin.

But the Rev. Bill Henard, senior pastor of Lexington's Porter Memorial Baptist Church, said that Sunday school classes and other groups from his church are likely to visit.

"I think people will enjoy ... being able to see a different side from what some scientific findings have shown," he said.

Henard said he believes in the literal story of creation, adding that "I think you would be surprised to know how many people hold to a young-Earth creation."

More than a century and a half after British naturalist Charles Darwin published The Origin of Species, which suggested that life evolved over millions of years from one-cell organisms, quite a few people agree with Henard, pollsters say.

When the Gallup Poll asked people about their views on the subject last March, 47 percent of Americans polled said that God created humans pretty much in their present form some time in the last 10,000 years. That belief was strongest among those with less education, regular churchgoers, people 65 and older, and Republicans.

Recruiting Dinosaurs

Like a natural history museum or an amusement park, the Creation Museum will use people's fascination with dinosaurs as a draw.

There will be 80 lifelike dinosaur models, some of which move their heads and tails and roar.

"The evolutionists use dinosaurs to promote their world view; we're going to use that to promote our world view," Answers in Genesis spokesman Mark Looy said.

More than 50 videos will be shown at the various exhibits, and a "special-effects" theater will have seats that shake as visitors are hit with tiny mists of water. The opening show features an animatronic young woman struggling with her belief in God, while two angels that she can't see are on the screen behind her. Ham describes it as the only part of the museum that is "lighthearted" and "edgy."

The museum has a planetarium. But its programs, unlike those at other planetariums, will say that the light from the stars we see did not take millions of years to get here.

There also is a reproduction of a portion of the Grand Canyon. The message there is that it was created very quickly, from the waters from Noah's flood. The fossils in rock layers there and in many other places around the world are of animals that drowned in the flood, the museum says.

Some of the exhibits would be the envy of any natural history museum.

There are, for example, 10,000 minerals from a collection that was donated to the museum, fossil dinosaur eggs from China that Ham says are worth $40,000, and a donated collection of dinosaur toys that has been valued at $50,000.

There also will be an exhibit suggesting that belief in evolution is the root of most of modern society's evils. It shows models of children leaving a church where the minister believes in evolution. Soon the girl is on the phone to Planned Parenthood, while the boy cruises the Internet for pornography sites.

The museum already has generated international publicity and criticism.

Comedian Bill Maher, who often mocks religion, came by last month. Looy said he snuck in for a half-hour interview with Ham, who didn't know who he was.

The museum and Answers in Genesis also are the unflattering subject of a chapter of American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War on America. The book, published last year, is by former New York Times correspondent Chris Hedges.

Tom Caradonio, president of the Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Commission, said the museum is expected to bring plenty of people to the region, including religious conventions.

Asked about the contention that the museum will embarrass the state, Caradonio noted that Lexington allows betting on horses at Keeneland Race Course, which some find objectionable.

"I learned a long time ago in this industry that if we had to make moral judgments, we would probably end up selling nothing," he said.

I am not a regal princess...

2007-04-14T09:58:00.000-07:00

Holy shit.

I guess a daughter's sexuality is property of her father? Gross.

May I recommend a showing of this at the next Purity Ball?

our future now

2007-04-09T17:51:00.001-07:00

The box glows it’s warm love buzz throughout the house. My brother’s eyes gleam with a sick intensity. His grin twitches with each flick of the plastic controller. He spends every hour of his youth sitting, staring into a box. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Staring into a box. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Staring into a box. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles death. Shooting people in the head. Hearing the gurgles of death. Staring into a box. He only moves to jump from his chair in victory. He has slaughtered the entire town of people…or zombies. Whatever.

His friends pile their bikes in the backyard. My parents are at the store. The grinning boys want to show him something awesome. They swallow hard with nervous pounding hearts. They type. They click. A million pictures undress so many years of hidden wonder. Cum In My Fuckhole. Hot Pussyz R Us. Big Titty Bitches. Little Cock Suckers. Sweaty blonde hair, full red lips, rock hard sausage breasts. Their eyes dance over the pages and their breathing slows to a stop. This is sex. That secret peeking from every beer commercial, every cheerleader’s bounce, every song on the radio. Picture after picture. A woman on her knees. On her back. Bending over. Taking it and taking it and taking it, just for them. And she likes it. And she wants it. These boys have so much to look forward to. Girls are smiling wet holes.

back to babyhood

2007-04-07T12:12:00.000-07:00

I'm moving to Missouri in October.

2007-04-07T11:51:00.000-07:00

Please visit me!

The Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage is an Intentional Community committed to environmental sustainability and egalitarian living. Feminism and cooperation are two fundamental philosophies of this living community project.

In 1997, the founding members purchased 280 acres of land in rural Missouri. The Dancing Rabbit is currently home to 19 people and three dogs. The community has a flexible structure and allows for multiple living arrangements including sub-communities, cohousing, and individual households. The goal of the project is to create a self-reliant society of 500 – 1000 residents. The long-term goal is to create a village made up of smaller communities, formed by individuals or groups, within the village. There are already two active sub-communities in the village, organizing small organic business cooperatives and group income sharing.

While social diversity is promoted through the development of these sub-communities, all members must agree to the basic covenants of the larger village. These six basic rules include, no use of automobiles other than the biodiesel powered vehicles available through the on-site cooperative, no use of fossil fuels, all agriculture/horticulture must be produced organically, all power consumed by the village must derive from renewable and sustainable sources, no lumber harvested from outside of the bioregion (unless it is reused/reclaimed) may be used in the community, and all members must adhere to the waste disposal system of reclaiming organic and recyclable materials.

Dancing Rabbit uses a self-defined feminist/egalitarian committee-based system to reach group consensus. The process for making decisions that affect the entire village has changed over the years. The village required full group consensus for all decisions during the early period of development. It soon became apparent that many members preferred ceding some of the power of full consensus to smaller committees. This reduced the amount of time each individual spent in meetings, while creating specialized groups to work on specific issues. However, every village member is guaranteed the opportunity to provide input and no decision is finalized unless each member can agree to the terms of a committee’s proposal. This often requires debate and compromise, as the village members believe that each person offers “a piece of truth” to the discussion. Through this system, everyone is empowered to make a direct contribution to the development of the project.

To stimulate the local village economy and reduce dependency on the larger US economic structure, community currency is being produced in hour value denominations. This helps to foster an equalizing effect on the importance of each individual’s contribution to the village. In this system, one hour of childcare is equivalent to one hour of biodiesel production. Jobs created within the village do not rely on conventional gender role expectations found in the larger patriarchal culture. Individuals of any gender identity are encouraged to pursue work that interests them. This, of course, is also a reflection of the project’s core feminist ideals. As a way to reduce the cost of living, the village also participates in the Conservation Reserve Program. The community has a contract with the federal government that pays an annual stipend to “perform erosion-control measures, plant trees, and encourage wildlife conservation.”

So, I'm selling my shit and heading west by foot. If any of you would like to join me, I'm going to start a sub-community called Froogins.

This is a dancing rabbit...

This is also a dancing rabbit...
http://www.dancingrabbit.org/

egg cycle

2007-04-07T11:46:00.001-07:00